Pokémon that evolve by trading in Pokémon Go

Some Pokemon in Go evolve for free by trading!

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Almost all Pokémon have an evolution, but not all have a straight-forward way to evolve these Pokémon. Some require various items, others need to be walked a certain amount, some need to be your friend, then there are those who need to be traded in order to evolve.

Trading wasn’t always around in Pokémon Go, so it’s worth noting that Pokémon Go haven’t always had trading-exclusive evolutions. Instead they were just a lot more expensive to do. However, in order seamlessly add the trading evolution mechanic, Niantic simply turned the trading evolutions into more of a discount.

So while you can still evolve your Haunter into a Gengar for 100 candies, if you were to get a traded Haunter, you’d be able to evolve it without the cost of candies. You would still need to use stardust, 100 if it’s the Pokemon is in your your PokeDex and 20,000 if it isn’t.

Special trade Pokémon

Here are all the Pokémon who get the trade evolution discount!

Abra

25 Candies

Kadabra

Trade (free) or 100 Candies

Alakazam

200 Mega Energy

Mega Alakazam

Machop

25 Candies

Machoke

Trade (free) or 100 Candies

Machamp

Geodude	25  Candies	Graveler	Trade (free) or 100 Candies	Golem
Alolan Geodude	25  Candies	Alolan Graveler	Trade (free) or 100 Candies	Alolan Golem

Gastly

25  Candies

Haunter

Trade (free) or 100 Candies

Gengar

200  Mega Energy

Mega Gengar

Roggenrola

50  Candies

Boldore

Trade (free) or 200 Candies

Gigalith

Timburr

50  Candies

Gurdurr

Trade (free) or 200 Candies

Conkeldurr

Karrablast

Trade (free) or 200 Candies

Escavalier

Shelmet

Trade (free) or 200 Candies

Accelgor

Pumpkaboo

Trade (free) or 200 Candies

Gourgeist

Phantump

Trade (free) or 200 Candies

Trevenant

Re-trading

But before you start trading, make sure you know that you won’t be able to get that Pokémon back!

In order to bar Trainers from continually re-rolling a Pokémon’s stats through trade, a traded Pokémon cannot be traded again. This feature promotes trading without giving a significant advantage to one Trainer over another. 

If you want a tradeable evolution, you’ll need to have a friend give you their special Pokémon.

Trading tips

When trading, here’s some things to keep in mind.

• You can only trade with friends who are nearby.
• Special Trades can only occur once a day.
• You can’t trade a Pokémon that has been traded previously.
• The stats of the traded Pokémon will randomly change after trading.
• You can find the trading rules using the Help button located above.
• If your friend’s Trainer level is lower than yours, the traded Pokémon’s potential CP and HP will be adjusted.
• Pokémon not yet registered in your Pokédex require a Special Trade.
• Your Friendship level must reach Good Friend in order to complete a Special Trade.
• You’ll receive bonus Candy if the locations where the traded Pokémon were caught are far apart (up to around 100 km).
• The amount of Stardust required for trading drastically reduces as your Friendship level increases.
• Shiny Pokémon, Legendary Pokémon, and Pokémon not currently in your Pokédex require a Special Trade.
• Completing a Special Trade requires a large amount of Stardust.
• Your Friendship level with a friend increases when you trade Pokémon to each other frequently.
• Mythical Pokémon can’t be traded.